October 6, 2025 • 50 mins
Pastor Lance challenges us to be discerning, as God's Word commands. We are to examine and test all things and reject all evil; judging is absolutely necessary, and we must begin with ourselves and then discern according to God's righteous standard.
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I have had the the wonderful privilege of of being a pastor
now for over over 40 years. 31 of those years I've been here at
Christ Community Church and looking at the church around the
world, I believe there there arethree major issues that the
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church faces every week, three issues that need to be dealt
with in the church. The first issue is the
unconverted among us. Churches across our country are
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filled with unconverted people. We know that because the Bible's
very replete with all kinds of testimony as to how the evil 1
sows the tares among the wheat. Satan is a master at disguising
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that which is false in a way that makes it look like it's
true. And so Satan is a master at
deception. He disguises himself as an Angel
of light and he does all he can to disrupt the harmony and unity
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of the Church. And Jesus tells us that one of
the ways he does that is that hesows the the tares, the the
unconverted among the converted.And Jesus says that they look so
much like that which is true that you can't distinguish them
until the end of the age, and then all will be revealed.
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There will always be Judases among the disciples, there will
always be demises among the church.
People who are deceptive, peopleare who are good at
masquerading, people are good atpretending.
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And so the Bible warns us about that.
That's why the series on on Wednesday night is just so
incredibly crucial to the church.
What really is a true Christian and am I truly genuine?
Am I truly born again? Throughout the the 80s and 90's,
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the secret sensitive movements swept the church and
entertainment replaced enlightenment, the theatrical
replaced the theological, and that movement did all it could
to bring in the unbeliever to the church.
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The church is not designed for unbelievers, it's only designed
for believers. But the movement would bring all
kinds of unbelievers into the church.
The church became more and more like the world.
The music became like that of the world, the preaching became
like that of the world. More stories than the true story
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of of the Christ, more personal illustrations about the pastor
instead of the true illustrations about, about the
Lord. And so all these unconverted
people felt very comfortable coming to church.
The unconverted should never be comfortable in church.
They should be so out of place that they either repent and turn
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from their sin, or they just leave.
But the church is not for the unconverted.
The church consists of those whohave been called out by God to
worship Him and to honor Him andto glorify His precious name.
And yet that is a major issue facing the church, the
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unconverted among us. That the second issue that that
faces the church that I think isalso a a major problem.
And that is the undisciplined around us, the unconverted among
us and the undisciplined around us.
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That the church has become very flabby, spiritually flabby.
Have you ever noticed that I, I had a grandmother growing up,
like most of you have grandmothers and she was very,
very heavy and she had so much excess weight on her arms that
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as children, grandchildren, we will go up and just flap the
flab on the end of her arms. And she would laugh and we would
laugh and just have a grand old time.
She was a master at cooking all kinds of food.
And the more she cooked, the bigger she she became and and
the more flabby she was. And so we would just play with
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the fat on her arms. She would laugh, we would laugh,
and that would be funny. But it's not funny when it's in
the church. It's not funny when we become
spiritually flabby. We need to be spiritually strong
in the church. But because we're so
undisciplined and the Bible sayswe are to discipline ourselves
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unto godliness, First Timothy chapter 4 verses 7:00 and 8:00,
that that bodily exercise profiteth little.
But godliness profits for all things, because it profits for
not only this life, but the lifeto come.
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Paul tells Timothy and Second Timothy chapter 1 and verse #7
God has given us the spirit of discipline and yet we are so
undisciplined. We are out of control.
We're not in control of our faculties, our minds, our
thoughts, our words. The the discipline of Scripture,
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the discipline of supplication, the discipline of silence and
solitude, the discipline of surrender and self denial, the
discipline of a steadfast heart and submission are are alien to
most people. And we find ourselves hardly at
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all exercising our spiritual faculties that we might somehow
be in tune with with the God we say we serve.
Paul and 2nd Thessalonians 3 verse #11 said these words he
said. For we hear that some among you
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are leading an undisciplined life today.
I wonder what Paul would say about the church, because the
church has become more and more undisciplined.
And that's not a good thing. That's a bad thing.
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And that needs to be dealt with in each of our own personal
lives. So you, you have the unconverted
among us. You, you have the undisciplined
around us. And here is the the third major
issue facing the church, and that is you have the
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undiscerning amidst us, the undiscerning people that are
unable to discern between that which is true and that which is
false, people that are unable todiscern God's way from every
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other way. That is a a major issue in the
church. Discernment is a word that
describes that which is black and that which is white.
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Discerning people don't live in the in the nebulous area of the
Gray, but so much in the church today, we live in that realm of
grayness. We don't want to come up on this
side or that side. We want to tolerate all kinds of
things in the church in our own lives.
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We don't want to be too hard to the right.
We don't want to be too soft to the left.
So we kind of settled in betweenand we begin to compromise.
Compromise our purity, compromise our doctrine,
compromise our lives simply because we live in the realm of
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the undiscerning, Discerning people are those who truly make
a clear distinction in their minds between what is right and
what is wrong. And that's where Paul comes in,
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in verses 19 and 20, or, excuse me, verses 20 and 21 of our text
in First Thessalonians chapter 5.
When he says these words, examine everything carefully.
Hold fast to that which is good and abstain from every form of
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evil. Did that 2 verses describe what
is not happening in the church today?
We need to be discerning people.And so Paul is concerned about
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this. In fact, he was so concerned
about it. Listen to what he says to the
church at Corinth in Second Corinthians Chapter 11.
In fact, if you got your Bible, you can turn there with me if
you would. Second Corinthians Chapter 11.
This is Paul's attitude toward the church, not just the church
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at Corinth, but every church, which should also be the
attitude of every pastor of his church.
He says in verse #2 I am jealousfor you with the godly jealousy,
for I betrothed you to one husband, so that the Christ I
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might present you as a pure virgin.
But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his
craftiness, your minds will be LED astray from the simplicity
and purity of devotion to Christ.
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Ever since the fall of man, Satan has been actively involved
in deception, and Paul was concerned about those in Corinth
that they would be deceived as Eve was deceived.
And every false teacher, every false preacher, always masters
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Satan's deception. For Satan would portray the
truth as error and then offer error as truth.
And that's what false teachers do.
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Satan would say back in Genesis chapter 3 these words, You shall
not surely die just because God said that if you eat of this one
tree, you will die. Surely, surely he was mistaken.
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Surely God LED you astray. Surely God really didn't mean
what he said, that you would dieif you ate of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. And so he would take the truth
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and make you believe it was error, and then he would take
error and make you believe it was true.
And he would say these words. For your eyes will surely be
open, and you will be like God, the master deceiver.
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He takes that which is true and paints it as error, then takes
that which is error and convinces you that it's true.
Who doesn't want to be like God?I mean, come on, if that's the
case, why not eat? And so they did and plunged the
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human race, the world and the universe into sin.
That's how Satan operates. He's a master at deception.
His counsel seems to be perfect,but it was so detrimental to
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them. So Paul says, I'm afraid that as
a serpent deceived Eve, so you too would fall into that same
category. Now he's writing to the church.
He's not writing to somebody from the Kiwanis Club, somebody
from the YMCA, somebody from your your school.
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He's writing to the church. Now listen to what he says next.
This is very, very important, for if one comes and preaches
another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a
different spirit which you have not received, or a different
gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this
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beautifully. What an indictment of the
church. Someone comes and they present
to you another gospel. They present to you another
spirit and another Jesus. You know what you do, you
embrace it, you accept it as beautiful.
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You say, well, this is this is pretty good.
This is OK. And you fall into this
deception, you, you begin to tolerate evil.
You tolerate another gospel, youtolerate another Jesus.
And it's OK that that is an undiscerning church.
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That's the problem. And that is the problem in the
church across America and aroundthe world.
It's filled with people who are undiscerning and they hear
something being preached. They say, well, that's, that's
OK. I, I understand that.
I, I can agree with that. And they begin to accept it for
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what it is. And all the while they are being
deceived by the evil. 1 So Paul says, For I consider myself not
in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles, but even
if I am unskilled in speech, yetI am not so in knowledge.
In fact, in every way we have made this evident to you in all
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things, he says, Listen, I mightnot be the most eloquent guy
around. I might not be the best
communicator around. I might not speak like other
people speak, but I do know this.
I have the knowledge that gave you a firm foundation of what it
is you are to believe. And yet you have set that aside
and you've accepted error for truth.
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And that is a problem. And that's the problem facing
every church in America today. The risk of wandering from the
truth is huge. The risk of becoming confused.
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Confused is on the rise in the church simply because we don't
examine everything carefully. Everything.
And the word that Paul uses in First Thessalonians 5 is the
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word doki matzo. It's a word that means to
analyze. It's the word that means to
scrutinize. It's the word that means to test
and to prove. It's a word of examination.
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Prove everything. Analyze every word, scrutinize
every element, everything. Bring every thought.
Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 10.Every thought into captivity to
Christ, to the obedience to Christ, every thought that you
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have, bring it under subjection to the obedience of Christ.
Here he says examine everything,analyze, scrutinize, test,
prove, put under the microscope every word, every situation,
everything and do it carefully. Now remember we're looking at
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the model life and the model life is 1 of adoration.
The model life adores their God.So they are joyful, prayerful
and thankful. And what they don't do is they
don't quench the Spirit and theydo not despise, disregard or dis
esteem any prophetic utterance, anything that comes from the
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revelation of God. And on the other hand, they
examine everything that comes from the revelation of God.
They examine it carefully, they scrutinize it, they make sure
that what is being preached, what is being said, what is
being lived is in accordance with truth, because truth is
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that which matters. So in other words, Paul says
this, I want you to live a modellife.
And in order to live a model life, you must be judging
everything. Now I know in today's.
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Vernacular. That's a bad word.
Judge who? Who are we to judge?
Anything or anyone in fact, someone will say, and you've got
on your mind right now the Biblesays we are not to judge, lest
you 2 be judged. I love it when people say that
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because that tells you that theyare undiscerning and not
discerning. That tells you that they are in
error and not in truth. How do we know that?
We'll turn back to Matthew 7 because that's where the the
verse is, right? Jesus talks about it and the
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Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7 verse #1 Do not judge so that
you will not be judged. See, I'm not going to judge
somebody. I'm not going to judge what was
said. I'm not going to judge what they
do lest I2 be judged. That's not what Jesus is saying.
Jesus isn't throwing out all biblical judgment.
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I'll show you that in a moment. That's the way He says, for the
way you judge, you will be judged and by your standard of
measure, it will be measured to you.
Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye
but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck
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out of your eye and behold, the log is in your own eye?
You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and
then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your
brother's eye. So in the very last verse, Jesus
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affirms judgment in the same way.
He says do not judge, but yet hesays you need to judge.
And you're going to do that first of all by taking the log
out of your own eye so that you can discern the speck in someone
else's eye. So in the same context, he tells
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you not to judge. He tells you to judge, to
examine, to scrutinize, to analyze.
Remember, he's talking about thereligious establishment, the
Pharisees, who are judging people by a standard that they
themselves did not and would notkeep.
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That's hypocritical judgement. That's hypocritical scrutiny.
That's what he he condemns, but he does affirm judgement based
on what is said, if first of all, you are willing to take
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that which is in your own eye out so you can see clearly, to
actually help the other person who has a speck in his eye.
Very, very important note this. We cannot judge people's
attitudes and motives. We cannot examine people's
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attitudes and motives. God does that.
Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 4 verse #5 or First Corinthians 4
verse #5 that He will expose oneday every man's motives.
God sees the heart. He judges the heart.
He does all of that. But listen to what Jesus says in
John 724. Judge with righteous judgement.
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You are to judge with righteous judgment.
There is a standard, a statementby which everyone is called to
live by. And that standard is God's
standard. It's a righteous standard.
And so you, you examine everything according to the
righteous standard of God, Not your standard, but God's
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standard, the word of God that is truthful, the word of God
that is unalterable, the word ofGod that always stands supreme
and sufficient. Judge with righteous judgement.
1st Corinthians 1015 Paul says like every preacher should say,
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judge what I say, judge what I say, put what I say under the
microscope. Like the Bereans in Acts 1711,
they wanted to test and prove everything, to see whether or
not what was said was true or not.
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They'd examined everything, and that's the way it should be.
Those who truly live a life of integrity are always open to be
examined. Those who do not live a life of
integrity do not want to be examined.
They don't want to be held into account.
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But those who live a life of an honesty and integrity and
purity, they want to be held under the microscope because
there's a standard by which theyare to live their lives and they
want to be held to that standard.
So Paul says, judge what I say. The Bible also says that you are
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to judge acts of sin. Did you know that Paul says this
over in First Corinthians 5 verse #12 He says for what have
I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are
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within the church, but those whoare outside?
God judges. So remove the wicked man from
among yourselves. He was talking about a man who
had committed sex sins with his mother.
He says we don't judge those on the outside, but we do judge
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those on the inside, those who commit acts of sin, those who
live disobediently to the Word of God.
Those people need to be scrutinized.
They need to be held to the biblical standard of purity and
holiness because we are a holy body, we are a holy church.
We serve a holy God. And if we are to represent a
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holy God to a unholy world, we can't do it living unholy lives.
We must live holy lives. And so if there's someone among
you who's living in sin, that needs to be confronted, that
needs to be dealt with. That's what Matthew 18 is all
about. Matthew 18, the first
instruction given to the church is all about judging sin.
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In the church. Your brother sins.
You go to your brother, he repents you on him.
If he doesn't repent, you take two or three witnesses with you.
Why? To win your brother.
You wouldn't have went into a place of repentance.
If that doesn't work, you tell it to the church.
So why? The church can go after him,
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plead and beg with him to repent.
If they don't repent, you treat him as what?
A tax gatherer and a Gentile. You treat him as if he's an
unbeliever because he hasn't repented.
See that's that's examining everything carefully.
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So important. But the church today doesn't
want to do that. We don't want to be involved in
those kinds of things. The Bible says you're to judge
yourself. We're going to partake at the
Lord's table here in a minute. First Corinthians 11 says let a
man examine himself before he eats and drinks of the of the
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Lord's table so that he doesn't eat and drink in an unworthy
manner. But because we are an
undiscerning people, we tend notto look at our lives and examine
them under the microscope of theauthority of God's holy Word.
So we refrain from any kind of examination in context of First
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Thessalonians 5. We're not to despise or look
down upon prophetic utterances, but we are to examine everything
that's said. Everything is spoken under the
guise of God's holy Word and youhold fast to that which is good.
You, You grip that which is good.
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You, you, you cling to that which is good.
But you, you abstain from every form of evil.
Same word used in First Thessalonians 4 where you are to
abstain from sexual immorality. You don't abstain every once in
a while, you abstain completely.Same is true here.
You don't abstain every once in a while from that which is
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wrong, you abstain completely from it.
You shun evil, not just evil behavior, but evil beliefs,
because belief always determinesbehavior, right?
What I believe to be true is howI live my life.
And so when you are examining evil behavior, you're really
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examining people's evil beliefs because it goes contrary to the
authority of God's holy Word. So Paul comes along and says,
look, you want to live a model life.
You want to live the life that that that exemplifies Christ.
Then you need to make sure you examine everything carefully.
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Every word that's spoken, every conversation that you have,
every thought that goes across your mind, everything.
Then say examine some things every once in awhile or it's
good that when you come to church you live a life of
examination. He says examine everything
carefully and if it's evil, abstain.
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If it's wrong, abstain. If it's good, hold on to it,
cling to it, never let it go, embrace it because if it's good,
it comes from a God who is good.There was so much to say about
this. I, I don't have the time to do
it, but, but just let me give you 7 words, OK, 7 words.
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I like to say 7 words in 7 minutes, but that's a little far
reaching. But 7 words that will help you
in the arena of discernment. Number one is caution.
Caution. We, we have thrown caution to
the wind at church. We just accept everything.
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I mean, after all, it's church. Why wouldn't we believe what the
preacher says? Why would we think that
someone's unconverted? Why would we think that someone
among us is undisciplined? We just accept the fact that
we're all going to church. We all love Jesus and
everything's good. But there's, there's, there's
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caution that must always take place.
We assume because our children are good that whatever they,
they, they watch on television or watch on their phone is good.
We, we assume that, that our children's social media is above
board. We, we just assume instead of
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examining our child's social media, instead of examining what
our children are doing, we just assume that's going to be OK.
We're very undiscerning. Most parents are asleep at the
wheel. Most parents are not in tune
with what's happening with theirchildren.
And as they get older, we just assume that they're going to be
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walking with Jesus. They're going to love Jesus.
Things are going to be good. I mean, after all, they're going
to church. Yeah, but what church are they
going to see? Do you examine that?
Do you scrutinize that? Do you analyze that?
If you examine everything, you got to scrutinize the church
your kids go to. But you see, as parents, we just
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tend, well, at least they're in church.
See that that's just that's justso wrong.
At least they're in church. What church?
Where are they going? What are they hearing?
Are they growing? What's happening?
You see what we just so caution to the wind and therefore we're
we're not a tune with with what's happening not only in our
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families, but in our churches aswell.
We just live lives so indiscriminately.
We let so many things just fly under the radar and we just let
things go. Told you before, as as parents,
we are not helicopters, we are fighter jets.
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And if you're not a fighter jet as a parent, you're just a
helicopter hovering around doingabsolutely no good to anybody.
You need to fight for your children's purity, fight for
your children's marriages, fightfor your children's personal
lifestyle and help them understand the truth.
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That's that's God's truth and they live need to live by in
order to be discerning. The first word is caution.
You need to live a cautious lifestyle.
You need to be aware of what's happening around you, what's
happening in your family, what'shappening with your children,
because if you're not, then you're going to live an
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undiscerning life. You won't be able to decipher
between that which is good and that which is which is wrong,
that which is truth, and that which is error.
And you need to know these things.
First word is caution. The second word is compulsion.
There's this compelling drive for discernment.
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Listen to what Solomon says. He says if you cry for
discernment, lift your voice forunderstanding.
If you seek her as silver and search for her As for a hidden
treasure, then you will discern the fear of the Lord and
discover the knowledge of the ofGod.
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For the Lord gives wisdom from his mouth come knowledge and
understanding that there is thiscompelling drive to learn
discernment. Lord, I want to be a discerning
person. I want to know truth from error,
right from wrong, good from best.
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I want to know those things. I don't want to be asleep at the
wheel. So you cry out to God for
discernment, and from God comes wisdom and knowledge.
From the Word of God comes everything you need to make wise
choices. But there's got to be this
compelling Dr. this compulsion to learn it, because if not,
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then you won't. It comes back to the
undisciplined life, doesn't it? It's a discipline.
Requires work. Requires Dr. Requires intensity.
Requires tenacity, requires passion.
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There's this compulsion that drives me to learn discernment
so that I can help my family. I can lead my family.
I can tell my children this is wrong.
You got to be able to tell your children, no, you cannot date
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the unbeliever. You cannot do that because the
Bible says you cannot be unequally yoked together and you
got to be careful that your emotions fall into this thing.
Once you start dating the unbeliever and you become or you
fall in love with that unbeliever and you marry that
unbeliever, it goes against God's command.
You cannot do that. So you cut it off before it ever
begins. That's a discerning parent.
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That's a, that's a fighter jet parent.
A helicopter parent says, well, you know, if that, you know,
whatever makes you feel good, ifit feels good, that's OK.
You know, we want you to be happy.
No, no, no, no. You want them to be holy.
We're so concerned about their happiness.
Oh, but they're getting up in here at the 333435.
We don't want them to be single forever, so it's OK.
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Better be single forever then marry the wrong one because then
you'd be miserable forever. That's always a heartache.
So there's this caution, there'sthis compulsion that takes place
that drives me to the Scripturesto learn discernment #3 and that
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is that is, oh, by the way, thiswas Solomon's cry.
Remember, God said, ask me what you wish and I will give it to
you. You imagine God coming to you
and saying, ask me whatever you want, I'll give it to you.
What would you say? Solomon says I need discernment
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so I can I can, I need wisdom soI can discern between that which
is right and wrong among the people of God.
And God was so pleased that Solomon asked that that he gave
him so much more other things, that Solomon became the wisest
man whoever lived, and God used him mightily.
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James says if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask.
That's a compulsive desire like Solomon had.
But. But here's the caveat to this.
Once there's a caution, once there's a compulsion, there must
#3 be a capitulation. That is, that you must submit
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and obey everything that God says.
Because we come to a place wherewe cry for discernment and God
gives wisdom and knowledge and we begin to read and study and
understand the word of God. And then it comes across
something that we just don't necessarily like or agree with,
and we think that somehow God iswrong.
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So there must be a capitulation,a complete undying submission to
everything that God says. Why?
Because the wisest man, whoever lived, didn't do that.
Listen to what the Bible says inFirst Kings 11.
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First Kings 3, Solomon cries fordiscernment.
God gives it to him. But the First Kings 11 it says
this. Now King Solomon loved many
foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabite,
Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, andHittite, women from the nations
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concerning which the Lord had said to the sons of Israel.
You should not associate with them, nor shall they associate
with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their
gods. Solomon held fast to these in
love. He had 700 wives, princesses and
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300 concubines. And his wives turned his heart
away, for when Stalin was old, his wives turned his heart away
after other gods, and his heart was not wholly devoted to the
Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
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Solomon did what was evil insidethe Lord, and did not follow the
Lord fully as David his father had done.
Then Solomon built a high place for chemist, the detestable idol
of Moab on the mountain which iseast of Jerusalem, which by the
way is Mount of Olives, and for Moab the detestable idol of the
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sons of Ammon. Thus also he did for all his
four wives, who bird, incense and sacrifice to their idols.
Now the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart had
turned, turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had
appeared to him twice, and it commanded him concerning his
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this thing. They should not go after other
gods. But he did not observe what the
Lord had commanded. So the Lord said to Solomon,
Because you have done this and you have not kept my covenant
and my statutes which I have commanded you, I will surely
tear the Kingdom from you and give it to your servants.
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What a devastation. You see, he valued something
more than God. He wasn't willing to submit and
capitulate to the commandments of God because because he, his
heart was turned, he found something more appealing to him,
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foreign wives. And the more he married, the
more, the more he felt good about it.
And yet it was a it was an abomination to God and, and he
had turned his back on God and didn't fully follow God.
He was wrong. That's because he wanted to be
cautious. And so he had this compulsion to
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be discerning but would not capitulate to the commandments
of God. Happens all the time.
You know why it happens in your family.
You know why you can't be discerning with your children is
because you value their relationship more than you value
the truth of God. You want to preserve a
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relationship that you think you have, but you do not.
You think you have a relationship with them, but you
can't have a relationship outside of truth.
You can't. And So what do you do?
You want to preserve something you think you have but you
don't, in hopes that one day it'll be great.
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But it won't, because it'll everbe based on truth.
You cannot have a relationship based on anything other than the
truth of the living God. You'll have a semblance of of
togetherness. You'll have some fun things that
happen, but the trueness of a deep intimate relationship does
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not happen outside of truth. But because we value
relationship over the truth, we will always compromise truth for
the sake of relationship. That's always wrong.
That's what Solomon did. God says you've lost it all.
You've lost the Kingdom. God kept it peaceful until the
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end, but once he died, the Kingdom divided has never been
the same sense. Why?
Because he would not submit and capitulate to the truth of the
wisdom and knowledge of God whenit was spoken His word.
I know my time is gone, but I got to finish because I because
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I want to finish. How's that?
Nick's word is connection. Connect yourself to someone
who's discerning. Latch yourself on to somebody
who has a discerning spirit and learn from them.
That's what Paul said. Insectivity 3.
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We said follow my pattern, Timothy.
Follow my lifestyle, Timothy. Follow my doctrine, Timothy,
connect with me. Follow the pattern of the
Saints. Follow someone who truly has a
deserting spirit, that knows what is right and what is wrong.
Hook yourself onto them and justwatch, look and listen.
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Good advice that Paul gave you Timothy, because it's sound
advice. So so many times we find
ourselves connected to people that are that are unruly,
undisciplined. You ever noticed that?
Remember what Paul says in in Second Thessalonians, he says
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this. Listen to this.
He says verse 6 chapter 3 SecondThessalonians.
Now we command you brethren, in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ that you keep away from every brother who leads an
unruly life and not according tothe tradition which you have
received from us. If there is any brother who does
not follow the commands of Scripture, do not associate with
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them. But you know what we do?
We associate with them. We we cry for wisdom, we cry for
discernment. And yet the Bible's very good.
Do not associate with the unruly, the undisciplined
person, because they'll turn youaway from the Lord.
They don't follow the the Scriptures, the authority of
God's word. You can't associate with them
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even if they're in the church. They says this for you
yourselves know how you want to follow our example because we
did not act in an undisciplined manner among you.
Connect yourselves to us, followus.
We were not disciplined. But yet you want to attach
yourself to the unruly. You want to attach yourself to
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the undisciplined, You want to attach yourself to the
unconverted, You want to attach yourself to the undiscerning.
Why? Why do you do that?
Paul says. Because we value a relationship
over the value of the truth. That's why he goes on and says
this verse 14. If anyone does not obey our
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instruction in this letter, takespecial note of that person.
Examine everything carefully, carefully and do not associate
with him so that he will be put to shame.
You want you want to know why the unrepentant don't repent in
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the church is because we want tobe friendly, unrepentant, and
act as if nothing's really wrong.
It's OK And they're not put to shame and they don't repent.
We hinder their repentance by befriending them in their sinful
state without confronting them in their sinful state.
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And Paul says this as he goes on.
Yeah. Do not regard him as an enemy
because he's not. He's your brother.
But you would admonish him as a brother, rebuke him as a
brother, confront him as a brother.
That's what you do. Because you see, when you do
that, he either or she either repents or they want nothing to
do with you. See, if they repent because you
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admonish them, praise the Lord and you've won your brother.
That's the right thing, so that there's this connection that you
have with those who truly are discerning.
And then there's this, there's mixed word word #5 is, is, is
concentration. Concentrate all your efforts on
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on the truth of God's word. Concentrate all your energies
and knowing what God says, His word, study to show yourself
approved under God, a workwind that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth, a great intense
concentration on the truth, and then the next word falls right
after that and that is continuation.
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That is, you need to continue growing your walk with the Lord.
Why? Because you never stop growing.
There's this continuing aspect where I grow day after day after
day. We continue to grow in the grace
and knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord.
And so therefore we exercise discipline and discernment.
And lastly, last word is contention.
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Always contend earnestly for thefaith that was once for all
delivered to the Saints. We're in a war, my friends.
It's a war for the truth. It's a war that we stand on
truth, live for live truth, honor truth.
So we're to protect the gospel. We're to guard the gospel.
We are to persevere in the gospel.
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We're to preach the gospel. We are to contend earnestly for
the faith that was once for all delivered to the Saints.
Fight for truth because truth iswhat matters.
Let me pray with you, Lord, thank you for today and the
opportunity to be together and pray that you'd use your word in
our lives that we might be not undiscerning but completely
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discerning of that is all happening around us.
To know what is right versus what is wrong, what is true
versus that which is false. We pray this in Jesus name,
Amen.
I have had the the wonderful privilege of of being a pastor
now for over over 40 years. 31 of those years I've been here at
Christ Community Church and looking at the church around the
world, I believe there there arethree major issues that the
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church faces every week, three issues that need to be dealt
with in the church. The first issue is the
unconverted among us. Churches across our country are
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filled with unconverted people. We know that because the Bible's
very replete with all kinds of testimony as to how the evil 1
sows the tares among the wheat. Satan is a master at disguising
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that which is false in a way that makes it look like it's
true. And so Satan is a master at
deception. He disguises himself as an Angel
of light and he does all he can to disrupt the harmony and unity
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of the Church. And Jesus tells us that one of
the ways he does that is that hesows the the tares, the the
unconverted among the converted.And Jesus says that they look so
much like that which is true that you can't distinguish them
until the end of the age, and then all will be revealed.
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There will always be Judases among the disciples, there will
always be demises among the church.
People who are deceptive, peopleare who are good at
masquerading, people are good atpretending.
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And so the Bible warns us about that.
That's why the series on on Wednesday night is just so
incredibly crucial to the church.
What really is a true Christian and am I truly genuine?
Am I truly born again? Throughout the the 80s and 90's,
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the secret sensitive movements swept the church and
entertainment replaced enlightenment, the theatrical
replaced the theological, and that movement did all it could
to bring in the unbeliever to the church.
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The church is not designed for unbelievers, it's only designed
for believers. But the movement would bring all
kinds of unbelievers into the church.
The church became more and more like the world.
The music became like that of the world, the preaching became
like that of the world. More stories than the true story
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of of the Christ, more personal illustrations about the pastor
instead of the true illustrations about, about the
Lord. And so all these unconverted
people felt very comfortable coming to church.
The unconverted should never be comfortable in church.
They should be so out of place that they either repent and turn
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from their sin, or they just leave.
But the church is not for the unconverted.
The church consists of those whohave been called out by God to
worship Him and to honor Him andto glorify His precious name.
And yet that is a major issue facing the church, the
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unconverted among us. That the second issue that that
faces the church that I think isalso a a major problem.
And that is the undisciplined around us, the unconverted among
us and the undisciplined around us.
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That the church has become very flabby, spiritually flabby.
Have you ever noticed that I, I had a grandmother growing up,
like most of you have grandmothers and she was very,
very heavy and she had so much excess weight on her arms that
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as children, grandchildren, we will go up and just flap the
flab on the end of her arms. And she would laugh and we would
laugh and just have a grand old time.
She was a master at cooking all kinds of food.
And the more she cooked, the bigger she she became and and
the more flabby she was. And so we would just play with
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the fat on her arms. She would laugh, we would laugh,
and that would be funny. But it's not funny when it's in
the church. It's not funny when we become
spiritually flabby. We need to be spiritually strong
in the church. But because we're so
undisciplined and the Bible sayswe are to discipline ourselves
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unto godliness, First Timothy chapter 4 verses 7:00 and 8:00,
that that bodily exercise profiteth little.
But godliness profits for all things, because it profits for
not only this life, but the lifeto come.
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Paul tells Timothy and Second Timothy chapter 1 and verse #7
God has given us the spirit of discipline and yet we are so
undisciplined. We are out of control.
We're not in control of our faculties, our minds, our
thoughts, our words. The the discipline of Scripture,
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the discipline of supplication, the discipline of silence and
solitude, the discipline of surrender and self denial, the
discipline of a steadfast heart and submission are are alien to
most people. And we find ourselves hardly at
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all exercising our spiritual faculties that we might somehow
be in tune with with the God we say we serve.
Paul and 2nd Thessalonians 3 verse #11 said these words he
said. For we hear that some among you
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are leading an undisciplined life today.
I wonder what Paul would say about the church, because the
church has become more and more undisciplined.
And that's not a good thing. That's a bad thing.
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And that needs to be dealt with in each of our own personal
lives. So you, you have the unconverted
among us. You, you have the undisciplined
around us. And here is the the third major
issue facing the church, and that is you have the
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undiscerning amidst us, the undiscerning people that are
unable to discern between that which is true and that which is
false, people that are unable todiscern God's way from every
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other way. That is a a major issue in the
church. Discernment is a word that
describes that which is black and that which is white.
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Discerning people don't live in the in the nebulous area of the
Gray, but so much in the church today, we live in that realm of
grayness. We don't want to come up on this
side or that side. We want to tolerate all kinds of
things in the church in our own lives.
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We don't want to be too hard to the right.
We don't want to be too soft to the left.
So we kind of settled in betweenand we begin to compromise.
Compromise our purity, compromise our doctrine,
compromise our lives simply because we live in the realm of
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the undiscerning, Discerning people are those who truly make
a clear distinction in their minds between what is right and
what is wrong. And that's where Paul comes in,
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in verses 19 and 20, or, excuse me, verses 20 and 21 of our text
in First Thessalonians chapter 5.
When he says these words, examine everything carefully.
Hold fast to that which is good and abstain from every form of
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evil. Did that 2 verses describe what
is not happening in the church today?
We need to be discerning people.And so Paul is concerned about
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this. In fact, he was so concerned
about it. Listen to what he says to the
church at Corinth in Second Corinthians Chapter 11.
In fact, if you got your Bible, you can turn there with me if
you would. Second Corinthians Chapter 11.
This is Paul's attitude toward the church, not just the church
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at Corinth, but every church, which should also be the
attitude of every pastor of his church.
He says in verse #2 I am jealousfor you with the godly jealousy,
for I betrothed you to one husband, so that the Christ I
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might present you as a pure virgin.
But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his
craftiness, your minds will be LED astray from the simplicity
and purity of devotion to Christ.
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Ever since the fall of man, Satan has been actively involved
in deception, and Paul was concerned about those in Corinth
that they would be deceived as Eve was deceived.
And every false teacher, every false preacher, always masters
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Satan's deception. For Satan would portray the
truth as error and then offer error as truth.
And that's what false teachers do.
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Satan would say back in Genesis chapter 3 these words, You shall
not surely die just because God said that if you eat of this one
tree, you will die. Surely, surely he was mistaken.
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Surely God LED you astray. Surely God really didn't mean
what he said, that you would dieif you ate of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. And so he would take the truth
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and make you believe it was error, and then he would take
error and make you believe it was true.
And he would say these words. For your eyes will surely be
open, and you will be like God, the master deceiver.
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He takes that which is true and paints it as error, then takes
that which is error and convinces you that it's true.
Who doesn't want to be like God?I mean, come on, if that's the
case, why not eat? And so they did and plunged the
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human race, the world and the universe into sin.
That's how Satan operates. He's a master at deception.
His counsel seems to be perfect,but it was so detrimental to
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them. So Paul says, I'm afraid that as
a serpent deceived Eve, so you too would fall into that same
category. Now he's writing to the church.
He's not writing to somebody from the Kiwanis Club, somebody
from the YMCA, somebody from your your school.
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He's writing to the church. Now listen to what he says next.
This is very, very important, for if one comes and preaches
another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a
different spirit which you have not received, or a different
gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this
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beautifully. What an indictment of the
church. Someone comes and they present
to you another gospel. They present to you another
spirit and another Jesus. You know what you do, you
embrace it, you accept it as beautiful.
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You say, well, this is this is pretty good.
This is OK. And you fall into this
deception, you, you begin to tolerate evil.
You tolerate another gospel, youtolerate another Jesus.
And it's OK that that is an undiscerning church.
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That's the problem. And that is the problem in the
church across America and aroundthe world.
It's filled with people who are undiscerning and they hear
something being preached. They say, well, that's, that's
OK. I, I understand that.
I, I can agree with that. And they begin to accept it for
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what it is. And all the while they are being
deceived by the evil. 1 So Paul says, For I consider myself not
in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles, but even
if I am unskilled in speech, yetI am not so in knowledge.
In fact, in every way we have made this evident to you in all
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things, he says, Listen, I mightnot be the most eloquent guy
around. I might not be the best
communicator around. I might not speak like other
people speak, but I do know this.
I have the knowledge that gave you a firm foundation of what it
is you are to believe. And yet you have set that aside
and you've accepted error for truth.
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And that is a problem. And that's the problem facing
every church in America today. The risk of wandering from the
truth is huge. The risk of becoming confused.
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Confused is on the rise in the church simply because we don't
examine everything carefully. Everything.
And the word that Paul uses in First Thessalonians 5 is the
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word doki matzo. It's a word that means to
analyze. It's the word that means to
scrutinize. It's the word that means to test
and to prove. It's a word of examination.
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Prove everything. Analyze every word, scrutinize
every element, everything. Bring every thought.
Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 10.Every thought into captivity to
Christ, to the obedience to Christ, every thought that you
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have, bring it under subjection to the obedience of Christ.
Here he says examine everything,analyze, scrutinize, test,
prove, put under the microscope every word, every situation,
everything and do it carefully. Now remember we're looking at
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the model life and the model life is 1 of adoration.
The model life adores their God.So they are joyful, prayerful
and thankful. And what they don't do is they
don't quench the Spirit and theydo not despise, disregard or dis
esteem any prophetic utterance, anything that comes from the
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revelation of God. And on the other hand, they
examine everything that comes from the revelation of God.
They examine it carefully, they scrutinize it, they make sure
that what is being preached, what is being said, what is
being lived is in accordance with truth, because truth is
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that which matters. So in other words, Paul says
this, I want you to live a modellife.
And in order to live a model life, you must be judging
everything. Now I know in today's.
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Vernacular. That's a bad word.
Judge who? Who are we to judge?
Anything or anyone in fact, someone will say, and you've got
on your mind right now the Biblesays we are not to judge, lest
you 2 be judged. I love it when people say that
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because that tells you that theyare undiscerning and not
discerning. That tells you that they are in
error and not in truth. How do we know that?
We'll turn back to Matthew 7 because that's where the the
verse is, right? Jesus talks about it and the
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Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7 verse #1 Do not judge so that
you will not be judged. See, I'm not going to judge
somebody. I'm not going to judge what was
said. I'm not going to judge what they
do lest I2 be judged. That's not what Jesus is saying.
Jesus isn't throwing out all biblical judgment.
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I'll show you that in a moment. That's the way He says, for the
way you judge, you will be judged and by your standard of
measure, it will be measured to you.
Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye
but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck
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out of your eye and behold, the log is in your own eye?
You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and
then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your
brother's eye. So in the very last verse, Jesus
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affirms judgment in the same way.
He says do not judge, but yet hesays you need to judge.
And you're going to do that first of all by taking the log
out of your own eye so that you can discern the speck in someone
else's eye. So in the same context, he tells
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you not to judge. He tells you to judge, to
examine, to scrutinize, to analyze.
Remember, he's talking about thereligious establishment, the
Pharisees, who are judging people by a standard that they
themselves did not and would notkeep.
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That's hypocritical judgement. That's hypocritical scrutiny.
That's what he he condemns, but he does affirm judgement based
on what is said, if first of all, you are willing to take
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that which is in your own eye out so you can see clearly, to
actually help the other person who has a speck in his eye.
Very, very important note this. We cannot judge people's
attitudes and motives. We cannot examine people's
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attitudes and motives. God does that.
Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 4 verse #5 or First Corinthians 4
verse #5 that He will expose oneday every man's motives.
God sees the heart. He judges the heart.
He does all of that. But listen to what Jesus says in
John 724. Judge with righteous judgement.
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You are to judge with righteous judgment.
There is a standard, a statementby which everyone is called to
live by. And that standard is God's
standard. It's a righteous standard.
And so you, you examine everything according to the
righteous standard of God, Not your standard, but God's
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standard, the word of God that is truthful, the word of God
that is unalterable, the word ofGod that always stands supreme
and sufficient. Judge with righteous judgement.
1st Corinthians 1015 Paul says like every preacher should say,
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judge what I say, judge what I say, put what I say under the
microscope. Like the Bereans in Acts 1711,
they wanted to test and prove everything, to see whether or
not what was said was true or not.
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They'd examined everything, and that's the way it should be.
Those who truly live a life of integrity are always open to be
examined. Those who do not live a life of
integrity do not want to be examined.
They don't want to be held into account.
(25:30):
But those who live a life of an honesty and integrity and
purity, they want to be held under the microscope because
there's a standard by which theyare to live their lives and they
want to be held to that standard.
So Paul says, judge what I say. The Bible also says that you are
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to judge acts of sin. Did you know that Paul says this
over in First Corinthians 5 verse #12 He says for what have
I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are
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within the church, but those whoare outside?
God judges. So remove the wicked man from
among yourselves. He was talking about a man who
had committed sex sins with his mother.
He says we don't judge those on the outside, but we do judge
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those on the inside, those who commit acts of sin, those who
live disobediently to the Word of God.
Those people need to be scrutinized.
They need to be held to the biblical standard of purity and
holiness because we are a holy body, we are a holy church.
We serve a holy God. And if we are to represent a
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holy God to a unholy world, we can't do it living unholy lives.
We must live holy lives. And so if there's someone among
you who's living in sin, that needs to be confronted, that
needs to be dealt with. That's what Matthew 18 is all
about. Matthew 18, the first
instruction given to the church is all about judging sin.
(27:18):
In the church. Your brother sins.
You go to your brother, he repents you on him.
If he doesn't repent, you take two or three witnesses with you.
Why? To win your brother.
You wouldn't have went into a place of repentance.
If that doesn't work, you tell it to the church.
So why? The church can go after him,
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plead and beg with him to repent.
If they don't repent, you treat him as what?
A tax gatherer and a Gentile. You treat him as if he's an
unbeliever because he hasn't repented.
See that's that's examining everything carefully.
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So important. But the church today doesn't
want to do that. We don't want to be involved in
those kinds of things. The Bible says you're to judge
yourself. We're going to partake at the
Lord's table here in a minute. First Corinthians 11 says let a
man examine himself before he eats and drinks of the of the
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Lord's table so that he doesn't eat and drink in an unworthy
manner. But because we are an
undiscerning people, we tend notto look at our lives and examine
them under the microscope of theauthority of God's holy Word.
So we refrain from any kind of examination in context of First
(28:51):
Thessalonians 5. We're not to despise or look
down upon prophetic utterances, but we are to examine everything
that's said. Everything is spoken under the
guise of God's holy Word and youhold fast to that which is good.
You, You grip that which is good.
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You, you, you cling to that which is good.
But you, you abstain from every form of evil.
Same word used in First Thessalonians 4 where you are to
abstain from sexual immorality. You don't abstain every once in
a while, you abstain completely.Same is true here.
You don't abstain every once in a while from that which is
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wrong, you abstain completely from it.
You shun evil, not just evil behavior, but evil beliefs,
because belief always determinesbehavior, right?
What I believe to be true is howI live my life.
And so when you are examining evil behavior, you're really
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examining people's evil beliefs because it goes contrary to the
authority of God's holy Word. So Paul comes along and says,
look, you want to live a model life.
You want to live the life that that that exemplifies Christ.
Then you need to make sure you examine everything carefully.
(30:20):
Every word that's spoken, every conversation that you have,
every thought that goes across your mind, everything.
Then say examine some things every once in awhile or it's
good that when you come to church you live a life of
examination. He says examine everything
carefully and if it's evil, abstain.
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If it's wrong, abstain. If it's good, hold on to it,
cling to it, never let it go, embrace it because if it's good,
it comes from a God who is good.There was so much to say about
this. I, I don't have the time to do
it, but, but just let me give you 7 words, OK, 7 words.
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I like to say 7 words in 7 minutes, but that's a little far
reaching. But 7 words that will help you
in the arena of discernment. Number one is caution.
Caution. We, we have thrown caution to
the wind at church. We just accept everything.
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I mean, after all, it's church. Why wouldn't we believe what the
preacher says? Why would we think that
someone's unconverted? Why would we think that someone
among us is undisciplined? We just accept the fact that
we're all going to church. We all love Jesus and
everything's good. But there's, there's, there's
(31:52):
caution that must always take place.
We assume because our children are good that whatever they,
they, they watch on television or watch on their phone is good.
We, we assume that, that our children's social media is above
board. We, we just assume instead of
(32:13):
examining our child's social media, instead of examining what
our children are doing, we just assume that's going to be OK.
We're very undiscerning. Most parents are asleep at the
wheel. Most parents are not in tune
with what's happening with theirchildren.
And as they get older, we just assume that they're going to be
(32:33):
walking with Jesus. They're going to love Jesus.
Things are going to be good. I mean, after all, they're going
to church. Yeah, but what church are they
going to see? Do you examine that?
Do you scrutinize that? Do you analyze that?
If you examine everything, you got to scrutinize the church
your kids go to. But you see, as parents, we just
(32:54):
tend, well, at least they're in church.
See that that's just that's justso wrong.
At least they're in church. What church?
Where are they going? What are they hearing?
Are they growing? What's happening?
You see what we just so caution to the wind and therefore we're
we're not a tune with with what's happening not only in our
(33:17):
families, but in our churches aswell.
We just live lives so indiscriminately.
We let so many things just fly under the radar and we just let
things go. Told you before, as as parents,
we are not helicopters, we are fighter jets.
(33:39):
And if you're not a fighter jet as a parent, you're just a
helicopter hovering around doingabsolutely no good to anybody.
You need to fight for your children's purity, fight for
your children's marriages, fightfor your children's personal
lifestyle and help them understand the truth.
(34:01):
That's that's God's truth and they live need to live by in
order to be discerning. The first word is caution.
You need to live a cautious lifestyle.
You need to be aware of what's happening around you, what's
happening in your family, what'shappening with your children,
because if you're not, then you're going to live an
(34:26):
undiscerning life. You won't be able to decipher
between that which is good and that which is which is wrong,
that which is truth, and that which is error.
And you need to know these things.
First word is caution. The second word is compulsion.
There's this compelling drive for discernment.
(34:51):
Listen to what Solomon says. He says if you cry for
discernment, lift your voice forunderstanding.
If you seek her as silver and search for her As for a hidden
treasure, then you will discern the fear of the Lord and
discover the knowledge of the ofGod.
(35:13):
For the Lord gives wisdom from his mouth come knowledge and
understanding that there is thiscompelling drive to learn
discernment. Lord, I want to be a discerning
person. I want to know truth from error,
right from wrong, good from best.
(35:37):
I want to know those things. I don't want to be asleep at the
wheel. So you cry out to God for
discernment, and from God comes wisdom and knowledge.
From the Word of God comes everything you need to make wise
choices. But there's got to be this
compelling Dr. this compulsion to learn it, because if not,
(35:58):
then you won't. It comes back to the
undisciplined life, doesn't it? It's a discipline.
Requires work. Requires Dr. Requires intensity.
Requires tenacity, requires passion.
(36:20):
There's this compulsion that drives me to learn discernment
so that I can help my family. I can lead my family.
I can tell my children this is wrong.
You got to be able to tell your children, no, you cannot date
(36:41):
the unbeliever. You cannot do that because the
Bible says you cannot be unequally yoked together and you
got to be careful that your emotions fall into this thing.
Once you start dating the unbeliever and you become or you
fall in love with that unbeliever and you marry that
unbeliever, it goes against God's command.
You cannot do that. So you cut it off before it ever
begins. That's a discerning parent.
(37:04):
That's a, that's a fighter jet parent.
A helicopter parent says, well, you know, if that, you know,
whatever makes you feel good, ifit feels good, that's OK.
You know, we want you to be happy.
No, no, no, no. You want them to be holy.
We're so concerned about their happiness.
Oh, but they're getting up in here at the 333435.
We don't want them to be single forever, so it's OK.
(37:28):
Better be single forever then marry the wrong one because then
you'd be miserable forever. That's always a heartache.
So there's this caution, there'sthis compulsion that takes place
that drives me to the Scripturesto learn discernment #3 and that
(37:51):
is that is, oh, by the way, thiswas Solomon's cry.
Remember, God said, ask me what you wish and I will give it to
you. You imagine God coming to you
and saying, ask me whatever you want, I'll give it to you.
What would you say? Solomon says I need discernment
(38:14):
so I can I can, I need wisdom soI can discern between that which
is right and wrong among the people of God.
And God was so pleased that Solomon asked that that he gave
him so much more other things, that Solomon became the wisest
man whoever lived, and God used him mightily.
(38:37):
James says if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask.
That's a compulsive desire like Solomon had.
But. But here's the caveat to this.
Once there's a caution, once there's a compulsion, there must
#3 be a capitulation. That is, that you must submit
(38:58):
and obey everything that God says.
Because we come to a place wherewe cry for discernment and God
gives wisdom and knowledge and we begin to read and study and
understand the word of God. And then it comes across
something that we just don't necessarily like or agree with,
and we think that somehow God iswrong.
(39:20):
So there must be a capitulation,a complete undying submission to
everything that God says. Why?
Because the wisest man, whoever lived, didn't do that.
Listen to what the Bible says inFirst Kings 11.
(39:41):
First Kings 3, Solomon cries fordiscernment.
God gives it to him. But the First Kings 11 it says
this. Now King Solomon loved many
foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabite,
Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, andHittite, women from the nations
(40:02):
concerning which the Lord had said to the sons of Israel.
You should not associate with them, nor shall they associate
with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their
gods. Solomon held fast to these in
love. He had 700 wives, princesses and
(40:27):
300 concubines. And his wives turned his heart
away, for when Stalin was old, his wives turned his heart away
after other gods, and his heart was not wholly devoted to the
Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
(40:52):
Solomon did what was evil insidethe Lord, and did not follow the
Lord fully as David his father had done.
Then Solomon built a high place for chemist, the detestable idol
of Moab on the mountain which iseast of Jerusalem, which by the
way is Mount of Olives, and for Moab the detestable idol of the
(41:14):
sons of Ammon. Thus also he did for all his
four wives, who bird, incense and sacrifice to their idols.
Now the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart had
turned, turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had
appeared to him twice, and it commanded him concerning his
(41:37):
this thing. They should not go after other
gods. But he did not observe what the
Lord had commanded. So the Lord said to Solomon,
Because you have done this and you have not kept my covenant
and my statutes which I have commanded you, I will surely
tear the Kingdom from you and give it to your servants.
(42:00):
What a devastation. You see, he valued something
more than God. He wasn't willing to submit and
capitulate to the commandments of God because because he, his
heart was turned, he found something more appealing to him,
(42:21):
foreign wives. And the more he married, the
more, the more he felt good about it.
And yet it was a it was an abomination to God and, and he
had turned his back on God and didn't fully follow God.
He was wrong. That's because he wanted to be
cautious. And so he had this compulsion to
(42:44):
be discerning but would not capitulate to the commandments
of God. Happens all the time.
You know why it happens in your family.
You know why you can't be discerning with your children is
because you value their relationship more than you value
the truth of God. You want to preserve a
(43:04):
relationship that you think you have, but you do not.
You think you have a relationship with them, but you
can't have a relationship outside of truth.
You can't. And So what do you do?
You want to preserve something you think you have but you
don't, in hopes that one day it'll be great.
(43:27):
But it won't, because it'll everbe based on truth.
You cannot have a relationship based on anything other than the
truth of the living God. You'll have a semblance of of
togetherness. You'll have some fun things that
happen, but the trueness of a deep intimate relationship does
(43:52):
not happen outside of truth. But because we value
relationship over the truth, we will always compromise truth for
the sake of relationship. That's always wrong.
That's what Solomon did. God says you've lost it all.
You've lost the Kingdom. God kept it peaceful until the
(44:13):
end, but once he died, the Kingdom divided has never been
the same sense. Why?
Because he would not submit and capitulate to the truth of the
wisdom and knowledge of God whenit was spoken His word.
I know my time is gone, but I got to finish because I because
(44:36):
I want to finish. How's that?
Nick's word is connection. Connect yourself to someone
who's discerning. Latch yourself on to somebody
who has a discerning spirit and learn from them.
That's what Paul said. Insectivity 3.
(44:58):
We said follow my pattern, Timothy.
Follow my lifestyle, Timothy. Follow my doctrine, Timothy,
connect with me. Follow the pattern of the
Saints. Follow someone who truly has a
deserting spirit, that knows what is right and what is wrong.
Hook yourself onto them and justwatch, look and listen.
(45:21):
Good advice that Paul gave you Timothy, because it's sound
advice. So so many times we find
ourselves connected to people that are that are unruly,
undisciplined. You ever noticed that?
Remember what Paul says in in Second Thessalonians, he says
(45:42):
this. Listen to this.
He says verse 6 chapter 3 SecondThessalonians.
Now we command you brethren, in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ that you keep away from every brother who leads an
unruly life and not according tothe tradition which you have
received from us. If there is any brother who does
not follow the commands of Scripture, do not associate with
(46:03):
them. But you know what we do?
We associate with them. We we cry for wisdom, we cry for
discernment. And yet the Bible's very good.
Do not associate with the unruly, the undisciplined
person, because they'll turn youaway from the Lord.
They don't follow the the Scriptures, the authority of
God's word. You can't associate with them
(46:25):
even if they're in the church. They says this for you
yourselves know how you want to follow our example because we
did not act in an undisciplined manner among you.
Connect yourselves to us, followus.
We were not disciplined. But yet you want to attach
yourself to the unruly. You want to attach yourself to
(46:46):
the undisciplined, You want to attach yourself to the
unconverted, You want to attach yourself to the undiscerning.
Why? Why do you do that?
Paul says. Because we value a relationship
over the value of the truth. That's why he goes on and says
this verse 14. If anyone does not obey our
(47:09):
instruction in this letter, takespecial note of that person.
Examine everything carefully, carefully and do not associate
with him so that he will be put to shame.
You want you want to know why the unrepentant don't repent in
(47:30):
the church is because we want tobe friendly, unrepentant, and
act as if nothing's really wrong.
It's OK And they're not put to shame and they don't repent.
We hinder their repentance by befriending them in their sinful
state without confronting them in their sinful state.
(47:55):
And Paul says this as he goes on.
Yeah. Do not regard him as an enemy
because he's not. He's your brother.
But you would admonish him as a brother, rebuke him as a
brother, confront him as a brother.
That's what you do. Because you see, when you do
that, he either or she either repents or they want nothing to
do with you. See, if they repent because you
(48:19):
admonish them, praise the Lord and you've won your brother.
That's the right thing, so that there's this connection that you
have with those who truly are discerning.
And then there's this, there's mixed word word #5 is, is, is
concentration. Concentrate all your efforts on
(48:43):
on the truth of God's word. Concentrate all your energies
and knowing what God says, His word, study to show yourself
approved under God, a workwind that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth, a great intense
concentration on the truth, and then the next word falls right
after that and that is continuation.
(49:05):
That is, you need to continue growing your walk with the Lord.
Why? Because you never stop growing.
There's this continuing aspect where I grow day after day after
day. We continue to grow in the grace
and knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord.
And so therefore we exercise discipline and discernment.
And lastly, last word is contention.
(49:31):
Always contend earnestly for thefaith that was once for all
delivered to the Saints. We're in a war, my friends.
It's a war for the truth. It's a war that we stand on
truth, live for live truth, honor truth.
So we're to protect the gospel. We're to guard the gospel.
We are to persevere in the gospel.
(49:52):
We're to preach the gospel. We are to contend earnestly for
the faith that was once for all delivered to the Saints.
Fight for truth because truth iswhat matters.
Let me pray with you, Lord, thank you for today and the
opportunity to be together and pray that you'd use your word in
our lives that we might be not undiscerning but completely
(50:16):
discerning of that is all happening around us.
To know what is right versus what is wrong, what is true
versus that which is false. We pray this in Jesus name,
Amen.
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